Electric fireplaces can be a wonderful addition to the modern or traditional home but choosing one can be tricky at best. Here are a few pro tips for picking the best electric fireplace for your home.
Electric fireplaces can be a wonderful addition to the modern or traditional home but choosing one can be tricky at best. Here are a few pro tips for picking the best electric fireplace for your home.
Table of Contents Hide
There are a few types of electric fireplaces available, each with their own unique offering to your home in terms of style, utility and heating. Let's take a look at them and see which one fits you best.
Wall Mountable
Electric fireplaces come in a variety of styles, one of which is wall mountable fireplaces. There are two primary types of wall mountable fireplaces, one that installs directly into the wall and the other, which comes with an installation kit allowing it to be installed on the surface of the wall.
Normally, electric fireplaces that are installed on the wall's surface are easier to install and only require the installation of a wall bracket, near to an electrical outlet as a power source for your new fireplace. In-wall installations are more permanent in nature and often require professional aid.
Most wall mountable electric fireplaces are designed to resemble traditional ones and thus sit against the wall at knee height. Some, however, have taken a stylistically modern approach and not only sit higher up, but also sport non-traditional finishes and have high-tech LED displays.
Some of the most modern wall-mounted designs offer a unique ice-themed fire. With LED display and remote control, they offer you customizable effects and temperatures at the touch of a button.
Modern kitchens and home bars that are searching for a touch of modern elegance would do well to give this model a second glance.
Fireplace TV Stands
Fireplace TV stands are the most versatile of the electric fireplaces. These stands come in a variety of styles and finishes and are often equipped with multimedia shelves and drawers for the adequate storage of your multimedia devices.
Flat screen TVs are well framed by these stands, whether placed directly on them or mounted on the wall above them. You won't have to be concerned about heat affecting your TV either, since the heat radiated by electric panels travels strictly outward and not upward.
You will find refreshingly modern designs, featuring LED lighting to highlight your media devices, for example, a sleek, symmetrical white design that makes it a perfect centerpiece for most modern living spaces.
Fireplace Inserts + Logs
If you're the owner of an older home or a new home with a fireplace you're hoping to no longer use, a fireplace insert is a safe, energy-efficient and eco-friendly option for remaking your fireplace. Instead of having your old fireplace filled in with concrete or plaster, you can have it replaced by a fireplace insert.
Traditional fireplaces can be difficult to maintain, especially when they have been out of use for a long time. Replacing one with a fireplace insert can be an easy way to maintain the ambiance of a fireplace without any of the risk, potential humidity or need for maintenance.
Corner Fireplaces
As their name implies, corner fireplaces are intended to fit flush in the corner of your room. This type of electric fireplace does well to radiate heat across your entire room since they radiate heat from a diagonal angle.
Some corner fireplaces feature panels that are collapsible, once folded in, these panels allow corner fireplaces to sit flush against your wall, opening options for your stylistic preference.
Electric Fireplace Mantels
Electric fireplace mantels are designed to mirror a traditional fireplace and are designed with ambiance in mind. They are typically more expensive than wall mountable fireplaces by a fair margin since they offer significantly more to a room aesthetically.
Electric fireplace mantels can come in a variety of finishes and styles, each of which can offer a unique contribution to your space.
Modern style fireplace mantels offer a sleek, white, linear composition that lends itself well to a contemporary entertainment or dining room.
Some come with a faux stone surrounding the firebox that will add a rustic feel to your interior.
You will also find classically trimmed and finished wooden mantels that will match traditional spaces. Dark wood contrasts nicely with the vivid flame electric firebox, providing both heat and ambiance to your room.
Once you have settled on the type and style of an electric fireplace that you're interested in, it's natural to consider adequate heating next. If you're using your heater as a supplemental source of heating, a good rule of thumb for knowing how much power you need is multiplying the square footage of your room by 10.
Total Area (sq. ft.) x 10 = Required Power in Watts
Most electric fireplace models operate between 750-1500 Watts of power, which makes them most suitable for rooms up to 150 sq. ft., which covers most living rooms and A/V rooms.
